1953 U.S.A. H-Bomb
7th January, 1953: President Harry Truman announced the U.S. has developed a hydrogen bomb (H-Bomb). He made this announcement in his final State of the Union Address.
He also made a similar announcement three years prior the plans for this development. The decision to develop the H-Bomb was partially in reaction to the USSR’s decision to let off an atomic bomb in 1949.

Iceland 1976 Iceland Cod Wars
7th January, 1976: A British naval frigate has been involved in a collision with an Icelandic gunboat inside the 200 mile exclusion zone for foreign trawlers Iceland is enforcing. This was known as the cod war with both sides claiming different legal rights. Britain says Iceland has no right to unilaterally enforce a 200-mile limit until it becomes law, and Iceland is saying that says it is applying the 200 mile fishery limit agreed by over 100 nations, including Britain, at the 1974 Law of the Sea Conference.

U.S. 1929 U.S.A. Influenza Epidemic
Jan. 7th, 1929: The current Influenza Epidemic is considered to be growing more serious with the number of additional deaths due rising to over 200,000, and have issued the following guidelines avoid crowds and persons infected with the disease. Also when noticing a fever spend the time in bed until the fever has passed . The government does not believe this epidemic will reach catastrophic proportions of 1918.

U.S. 1931 U.S.A. Unemployment
Jan. 7th, 1931: the Committee for Unemployment Relief announced some 4 to 5 million Americans were unemployed. The Depression continued to grow worse, and by 1932, some 13 million Americans were without jobs.

U.S. 1950 U.S.A. Fire
Jan. 7th, 1950: A fire in the mental ward of Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa killed 41 people

U.S. 1959 U.S.A Cuban Diplomatic Relations
Jan. 7th, 1959: United States was still willing to work along with the new Cuban government. This was the case even though there was some fear that Fidel Castro, the leader of the country, might make an effort to push communism on more of a global basis.
However, the effort made by the United States to have diplomatic relations with Cuba was not very long after discontinued. Only approximately three years later, the United States pulled out of Cuba completely.

U.S. 1963 U.S.A. Voting Transparency
Jan. 7th, 1963: An Iowan Representative was reported on this date to have proposed to have the secret voting policy changed. If this policy is amended, this area’s house sifting and steering committees would be required to make a public record of how each member would vote on each bill.
This notion had yet to be decided as of this date. The idea behind this change would be so that the public knows where each representative stands on each political issue addressed.

UK 1965 England The Kray Twins
7th January, 1965: The Kray twins Ronald and Reginald, are in custody charged with demanding money with menaces in the County of London , The Krays were found not guilty of those charges but in 1969 they were found guilty of the murder of Jack McVitie and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Krays were considered a couple of east end villains and had a large following of local east enders in London.

U.S. 1973 U.S.A. Mark Essex
Jan. 7th, 1973 : Mark Essex kills 9 people and himself including police officers and wounds 13 others in New Orleans before being shot by police

UK 1974 England War Games
Jan. 7th, 1974: Crowds of people gathered around the Heathrow airport as “war games” took place. Both adults and children arrived from quite a number of different locations to witness armed soldiers, armed gear, tanks, and armored cars. This was very unusual in Britain as Police were not armed and it was unusual to see military personal carrying arms in a public place .
A large number of the military stationed at this London airport were carrying rifles, and one was even carrying a machine gun. In all reality it was actually a defense drill, to help keep military forces prepared in the case of a terrorist attack.
Unofficial reports said that an Arab was planning on shooting down an Israeli or American plane. The truth in this was yet to be determined, but precaution was taken nevertheless-even though it was peacetime in Britain (England) as of this time.

India 1980 India Indira Gandhi
Jan. 7th, 1980: The people of India have voted Indira Gandhi back into power with a landslide majority.

Japan 1989 Japan Japanese Emperor
Jan. 7th, 1989: Showa Tenno Hirohito died today after serving over 60 years as the Japanese Emperor. He served as ruler over the 124 monarch that has existed in Japan since the year 660 B.C.
Hirohito took the throne in 1928 after the death of his father. He was one of the longest-standing rulers of this country.

1990 Italy Leaning Tower of Pisa
Jan. 7th, 1990: The Leaning Tower of Pisa has been closed to the public for the first time in 800 years due to fears the tower may topple over, The tilt is currently 16ft off the perpendicular and increases by about one-twelfth of an inch every year .

U.S. 1996 U.S.A. Winter Blizzard Claims 100 Lives
Jan. 7th, 1996 : A major Winter Blizzard paralyzes Washington to Boston on the eastern United States with up to four feet of snow closing many major highways including the New Jersey Turnpike and during it's 3 days from the 6th January to the 8th January claims 100 Lives

U.S. 1999 U.S.A. Impeachment of President Clinton
Jan. 7th, 1999 : On this day in 1999, a trial for the impeachment of President Clinton was started. He was originally accused of lying under oath and obstructing justice. Later on, was also charge of actions such as witness tampering and abuse of power.
Clinton was also at one time sued for sexual harassment charges by Paula Jones. He was also accused of having relations with Ms. Monica Lewinsky. He denied the affair with Ms. Lewinsky at first and then later admitted to explicit details of a relationship with her.
During the course of the impeachment trial, the House Judiciary Committee had approved three articles of impeachment. However, after a series of hot debates, he was found “not guilty”. He had made a public apology to the American people after this time.

Europe 2009 Europe Gas Supplies Russia Cuts Off Gas Supplies To Europe
Jan. 7th, 2009 : Russia fully closes down Gas Supplies to Ukraine due to a dispute over a debt of $2.4 billion to Gazprom. Reduced supply had started on January 1st but due to negotiations breaking down all supplies were cut on January 7th.
Most of the European Union relies of Gas from the Gas Fields of Russia so although the dispute was between Russia and the Ukraine the worst effects are felt in Western Europe with Bulgaria, Moldova and Slovakia the worst effected. The dispute lasted until a settlement was reached between Gazprom and the Ukraine on January 30th.

U.S.A. 2009 United States Deficit will exceed $1 trillion next year
7th January, 2009 : US Deficit to break all records and is expected to reach $1 trillion ($1,000bn) more than doubling last year's figure of $455bn, this is about 8.3% of GDP, This is before the extra $800bn proposed stimulas package, current unemployment in the US is estimated at 2.5 million or 8.5% of the working population.

World 2010 World Full Body Scanner Debates
Jan. 7th, 2010 : Following the attempted bombing on Christmas Day of a US-bound jet by a terrorist ( Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab )with explosives sewn into Mr Abdulmutallab's underwear containing the high explosive PETN - pentaerythritol. The current sceeening at airports use Metal detectors and would not have picked up the explosives, but a full body scan device would have spotted something strapped to his body. The issue with using a full body scanner is they produce a "near naked" image of the person being scanned which raises concerns over child protection laws and invasion of people's privacy.

Somalia 2011 Somalia Mixed-Gender Handshakes Banned
Jan. 7th, 2011 : In the Islamic-controlled town of Jowhar, Somalia,
men and women are banned from shaking hands with each other. The
Islamic group al-Shabab also banned women and men from walking with
each other or talking to each other in public unless they are related.

United Kingdom 2013 United Kingdom Stolen Matisse Found

Jan. 7th, 2013 : A missing Henri Matisse painting titled Le Jardin, stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm in 1987, was found by an art recovery specialist who successfully negotiated the return of the painting.

Taiwan 2014 Taiwan Man Survives Sea Ordeal

7th January, 2014 : A forty-two year old Taiwanese man was rescued after being stranded in the sea. The man was swept away by waves while visiting a beach and was able to stay afloat by holding on to a piece of wood. He was found washed up on another beach after being in the ocean for sixty hours.

Born This Day In History 7th January

Celebrating Birthday's TodayKatie CouricBorn: 7th January 1957 Arlington, Virginia, U.S.Known For : Katie Couric is best known as the current anchor of the CBS Evening News, prior to her move she was co-host of NBC's Today Show. She is a single mom with 2 children following the death of her husband in 1998 from Colon Cancer and is a a prominent spokeswoman for colon cancer awareness. Nicolas CageBorn: 7th January 1964 Long Beach, California, U.S.Known For : Nicolas Cage is a highly successful American actor with a string of movies including Moonstruck, Honeymoon in Vegas, Leaving Las Vegas, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Adaptation, National Treasure and Peggy Sue Got Married. As well as box office success he has won a number of awards including an Oscar for Best Actor in the movie Leaving Las Vegas. A little known fact is he was married to Lisa Marie Presley the daughter of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley and former wife of Michael Jackson.